LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: Until this week, Grant Davies was a highly successful dance teacher. Scores of his students have gone on to forge careers in showbusiness. But that is now over. He's facing multiple counts of grooming children and possessing child pornography. Tonight one of his former colleagues tells 7.30 there needs to be a governing body to provide greater scrutiny of the dance industry. Tracy Bowden reports.

TRACY BOWDEN, REPORTER: He's described as charismatic, high profile, entrepreneurial. RG Dance studios, set up by Grant Davies and his sister Rebecca, has been a huge player in the dance world.

TRACIE SEIPEL, DANCE TEACHER: The kids absolutely adored him. They craved his attention. He had so much love that he was giving these children and they all wanted to be a part of that. Everybody wants to feel good and Grant was very good at making these children like themselves and feel good about themselves.

TRACY BOWDEN: They were the masters of self-promotion, swamping social media with videos and photos of their classes and their students.

The studio produced high-octane videos on dance technique and ran dance workshops and seminars around the country. The promise to parents: we will make your child a star.

GRANT DAVIES, RG DANCE STUDIOS (promo video): I'm a kick butt coach that I help dancers go from good to great fast, that I get results rapidly, have a good time along the way and exceed people's dreams and give more value than they could ever expect.

TRACY BOWDEN: But last Friday it all came crashing down. Grant Davies was arrested. Charged with grooming children for unlawful sexual activity and producing and disseminating child abuse material.

Today, the 39-year-old appeared in Burwood court via video link. Six additional charges were laid.

MARK JONES, NSW POLICE: Today at Burwood Local Court detectives laid a number of further charges, those charges being four counts of aggravated sexual assault with a victim under 16 years of age and two counts of child indecent assault with a victim under 16 years of age.

TRACY BOWDEN: These latest charges relate to a 12-year-old boy. The prosecution also told the court that police have seized a large amount of child pornography, including hundreds of photographs of children. There are also photographs of naked children in sexually suggestive positions which police believe the dance teacher had taken.

MARK JONES: This is an ongoing investigation and police have requested anyone in the public that has any information at all that may assist police, could you please contact Burwood Local Area Command.

TRACY BOWDEN: Grant Davies' world began unravelling in April when his sister and his wife alerted child welfare authorities over concerns that he had child pornography. Rebecca Davies says she's severed all personal and professional ties with her brother.

TRACIE SEIPEL: Rebecca and I were very close for a long time and I considered them my family.

TRACY BOWDEN: Acrobatic teacher Tracie Seipel grew up with Rebecca and Grant Davies and taught at RG Dance for five years.

TRACIE SEIPEL: At first it was insanely wonderful. We felt like we were changing things. We felt like we were making a difference. It was wonderful. The kids laughed all the time, which was really nice to be around, and there was a sense of community.

TRACY BOWDEN: But Tracie Seipel says she became concerned about Grant Davies' contact with students.

TRACIE SEIPEL: While we in dance need to touch our students, it is a part of our job, there are times when that is acceptable and there are times when it's simply not appropriate.

TRACIE SEIPEL: I immediately called DOCS and I also rang the police and made a statement to Burwood Police Station. I know other people made statements to the police as well.

TRACY BOWDEN: But police didn't proceed and Grant Davies was soon back in the studio.

TRACIE SEIPEL: He was out of the classroom for one week. The parents had approached the management of RG Dance. They had taken him out of the classroom to help him.

TRACY BOWDEN: Now six years later, it's a very different scenario. Today Grant Davies' application for bail was refused with the magistrate saying there was a real likelihood of further offences and interference with witnesses.

KERRYN BOLAND, NSW CHILDREN'S GUARDIAN: We're currently working with the dance industry to work with them on codes of conduct, for example, on information sessions, about what constitutes keeping a safe - child-safe environment.

KERRYN BOLAND: We have heard from parents that they feel difficult about raising concerns. It's really about an open environment in which people can in fact not feel silly that they're raising something that's occurred.

TRACY BOWDEN: Tracie Seipel is speaking out because she believes that there must be change in the dance industry, an industry where she says there's been no-one to turn to when people feel something is wrong.

TRACIE SEIPEL: We need to have somebody step up and take order of our industry and get some regulations in there and start making people accountable so that we can run a preventative industry, not a reactionary one.

LEIGH SALES: Tracy Bowden with that report, produced by Leslie Robinson.